The Real Zombification Process!

Rating: 10/10 (17 October 2013)

a well-acted, well directed, and well written scary movie. Director Danny Boyle keeps the audience off-balance. Nightmarish quick cuts and digital video give the look of the movie a gritty, hallucinatory immediacy. Boyle also makes brilliant use of the empty artifacts, from the deserted London streets to a once-magnificent Gosford Park-style country house, now occupied by military, who eat rotting food around the table once used for glittering parties. Each character gets just one defining quality (idealistic Jim, tough Selena, stout-hearted Frank, ingenue Hannah), but that just adds to the sense of urgency -- we don't have time to get to know them, just as they don't have time to get to know one another....Desolate and empty London streets. An upturned bus. A solitary man's echoing 'Hello?' sends pigeons fleeing. Simple imagery, but stunningly effective.Danny Boyle can't be typed as a director. This guy is all over the board. He has a great feel for horror though, making very sure that he knows what really is scary. There is some blood, no doubt, but this isn't a spoon-fed easy horror, but more of an unseen menace. Even when the "Infected" are (quite literally) in your face, the camera is shaky and quick cuts are used to break up what you see and blur comprehension. Boyle also knows when to rely on action and when to slow things down. He never seems to be in a hurry, and allows the audience to get to know the characters on their own. Nothing is ever over-explained here at all, and any small lapses are acceptable due to the focus.